Nyssa Brown is an elementary music teacher at the American School of the Hague in the Netherlands. She draws on her K-9 vocal/choral music experience in the US and abroad while presenting at local, regional, national, and international conferences on topics that include global music, 21st Century Skills in the music classroom, technology integration, curriculum/assessment writing and professional learning. In the recent development of the National Core Arts Standards, Nyssa served as a Grade 3-5 sub-committee member. Ms. Brown served as Music Education Coordinator for Minnesota’s Perpich Center for Arts Education and coached teachers in over 100 school districts across the state of Minnesota. She was one of ten finalists for 2004 Minnesota Teacher of the Year and received a prestigious Milken Educator Award in 2004 from the Milken Family Foundation. Passionate about teaching in a global context, Nyssa taught at the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India and in both Namibia and South Africa, through a fellowship offered by the Eastman School of Music's Umculo: The Kimberley Project.
Nyssa is a faculty member of the Kodály Levels Course at Indiana University and the University of St. Thomas. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas and Augsburg College. Nyssa also studied in Hungary at the Kodály Institute's summer seminar. She released her first CD in October, 2000, "Packwood or Paradise" and is currently recording a CD of lullabies.
Ms. Brown graduated from the Hartt School of Music and Hartford College for Women in 1998 with a BMus in Education and a BArts in Women's Studies. She completed her Master of Arts in Music Education at the University of St. Thomas, 2008. Her Kodály certification was earned at Brigham Young University in 2001, and she has completed Levels 1 and 2 of her Orff training at University of St. Thomas.